Across the country from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg and from the Caucasus to the Far North, Russia’s long-haul truckers resumed their strike against the Plato road toll system with even more demands, including — not unimportantly — a demand that Vladimir Putin leave office.

They timed the beginning of their ten-day warning strike to coincide with the birthday of Arkady Rotenberg, the oligarch to whom their new fees are going. The response of the authorities has varied from arrests to warnings to simply watching, apparently reflecting a desire to reduce the number of strikers without provoking violence or more coverage.

The government-controlled media is generally avoiding coverage of this nationwide event; but opposition outlets and regional news agencies are starting to report it – and are likely to provide more coverage in the following days.

Edited by: A.N.

Since you’re here – we have a favor to ask. Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine is ongoing, but major news agencies have gone away. But we’re here to stay, and will keep on providing quality, independent, open-access information on Ukrainian reforms, Russia’s hybrid war, human rights violations, political prisoners, Ukrainian history, and more. We are a non-profit, don’t have any political sponsors, and never will. If you like what you see, please help keep us online with a donation!

Related

About the Source

Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia. He has served as director of research and publications at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, vice dean for the social sciences and humanities at Audentes University in Tallinn, and a senior research associate at the EuroCollege of the University of Tartu in Estonia. Earlier he has served in various capacities in the U.S. State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the International Broadcasting Bureau as well as at the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Euromaidan Press republishes the work of Paul Goble with permission from his blog Windows on Eurasia.

Support Euromaidan Press

Advertisement

Article by: Serhiy Pyvovarov But, did you know that for the first and last time, Ukraine celebrated Independence Day on July 16, 1991? The chosen date was based on the first anniversary of the 1990 Declaration of State Sovereignty of...